Goal 4: Demonstrate courageous leadership in an increasingly diverse world

Whitworth values the role a welcoming and diverse community plays in fulfilling the university's mission to "honor God, follow Christ and serve humanity." Grounded in a biblical understanding of God's character, the university will cultivate in students, faculty, staff and trustees the capacity to relate effectively across multiple dimensions of human diversity in learning, working and living environments. During the next decade, Whitworth will focus on issues of intercultural competency and equity related to gender, race and ethnicity.

Objectives:

Establish a permanent representative council to provide leadership in Whitworth's ongoing efforts to achieve the university's goals for diversity and intercultural competency.

Complete a comprehensive assessment of current initiatives to help students, faculty and staff develop intercultural competencies and determine their impact on the living, learning and working experiences of all Whitworth community members.

Equip the Whitworth community to live, work and learn in relationships that reflect the call to love God and to love one's neighbor, through curricular and co-curricular programs, professional development, and training opportunities.

Strengthen recruitment and retention of faculty and staff to reflect the diversity of the U.S. population, while also expanding leadership opportunities at Whitworth for women and for individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations.

Support Whitworth's commitment to intercultural competency, inclusiveness and diversity by recruiting and retaining a diverse student body.

Deatri Ross, '12, served the past two years as a cultural diversity advocate – a student leadership position unique to Whitworth – that put her at the front line of intercultural relations on campus. CDAs are part of the student leadership teams in residence halls; they work with Assistant Dean for Intercultural Student Affairs Esther Louie to help build connections between students across race, culture, class, language and other dimensions of diversity.

Ross has been an influential leader and role model for her peers, according to Louie. A senior education major who hopes to teach in an urban elementary school, Ross helped pilot an academic coaching program to support international and multicultural students as they make the transition to college. "Deatri was such a blessing with her positive energy, her enthusiasm, and her follow-through with her students," Louie says. "She is a great bridge-builder, bringing many different types of students together in community."